


The Great Duel

by Dragonkeeper14



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:15:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27494092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonkeeper14/pseuds/Dragonkeeper14
Summary: In which we see my inadequate attempt to depict the greatest wizards' duel of the 20th Century…





	1. The Contest Begins

Said Grindelwald: 'Are you here to stop me, Albus?'.

Dumbledore answered: 'Your intelligence has not deserted you, Gellert. I am indeed here to stop you'.

Said Grindelwald: 'Is that so? What about our Blood Pact? Or have you forgotten that little settlement? As long as it exists, I can't attack you, and nor can you attack me'.

Dumbledore answered: 'The Pact is broken', and threw down its empty vial.

Said Grindelwald: 'By Merlin's beard! You're as great as people say. The greatest wizard of modern times! Very well, then, Albus! It's just you and me: skill against skill, spell against spell. Have at you!'.

With that, Grindelwald hurled a shower of stones. Dumbledore changed all the stones into bubbles. 

Grindelwald raised his wand again and hurled bolts of lightning at our heroes, which Dumbledore caught on his own wand and conducted into the ground.

After that, the two wizards conjured fists of wind and walls of fire, arrows of lightning and darts of ice, blinding lights and ear-piercing shrieks, flying knives and flaming spears and shields; and cast orbs of powder which burst in the air and stung each other's eyes. None of these missiles reached their targets; but each time one came near, the intended victim simply waved it aside and made it disappear.

The Hammer of the Mind felled the Hand of Death;  
The Blinding Dark yielded to Blazing Light.  
The Arrow of Acid fell on Aerial Armour;  
The Wave of Earth met the Reversal Charm.  
The Pillar of Flame plunged into water;  
The Force-Lash failed to offend, and faded.  
The Shower-of-Arrows pierced the Shield of Saturn;  
The Halberd of Light scored the Hand of Despair.

Grindelwald raised one hand, and a column of fire sprang up; he raised the other, and a whirlwind formed opposite; then spun the two into a single blazing tornado, surrounded by flying pebbles, and sent it spinning at Dumbledore, who twirled his wand around it and sent it spinning back at its maker. Grindelwald waved his own wand and the storm disappeared. 

Now, Grindelwald created a towering snow-wraith with glaring eyes and gaping mouth, and sent it at Dumbledore. Bitter winds blew, and huge clouds of ice filled the room, and chilled our heroes. Dumbledore surrounded himself and his companions with a ring of fire, higher than their heads, and the snow-wraith and its freezing atmosphere melted away.

Grindelwald raised his wand, and a thousand stones rose from the floor. He waved it and the stones changed into darts, and flew at our friends; but Dumbledore raised his own wand, and the darts flew back at their master and grazed him on the right side and the left, and burst into clouds of dust. 

Grindelwald conjured arrows, spears, axes, maces, and swords all a-fire, which fought of themselves; Dumbledore conjured countless shields, and his enemy's weapons all broke where they touched them. 

Now, Grindelwald threw balls of fire and whips of water, arrows of lightning and darts of blue ice, and cast spells which made the ground shake and the air thicken, and filled everyone's ears with terrible noises. Dumbledore in return summoned water to douse the flames, sunlight to evaporate the water, lightning-rods for the electricity, plasma to dissolve the ice, and spells of his own to quiet the earth. With his wand, he swept away the humidity in the air, and filled everyone's ears instead with soft, beautiful music.

Now, Grindelwald threw a stream of shards of ice; Dumbledore stopped them with a wall of flame. Grindelwald conjured a troll-like shape out of the stone floor; Dumbledore fought it off with a thousand warriors made of light. 

Grindelwald conjured whips of fire, fists of compressed air, burning crosses, spikes of stone, javelins of ice, and beams of ultraviolet light. With a powerful Shield Charm, Dumbledore stopped them all. 

At that, Grindelwald threw explosions of blinding light, droned dissonant noises until the ground shook, and showered sprays of poison. Dumbledore conjured lenses of air to dim the light, summoned more music to drown out the noise, and blocked the poison with more Shield Charms. 

Now, the two wizards raised their wands and lashed each other with whips of fire. 

After a few minutes of this, Grindelwald conjured a mountain in the air, from which fell spears and pole-axes and tridents and labryses and cannon-balls, as rain from a thunder-cloud; but Dumbledore blew into his palms and swept his hands suddenly apart, and a great wave of sound shattered the mountain and all its missiles. 

Now, Grindelwald conjured a gigantic black tower in the air, made entirely of dark glass. Dumbledore built a tower of his own, of seven kinds of gem. The two stood for a moment; then faded. 

Grindelwald hurled a chain of fire. Dumbledore took hold of it, changed it into a chain-shot of fire and lightning, and threw it back. Grindelwald conjured a mirror to reflect the missile, and both missile and mirror shattered into thousands of pieces. The warlock shattered windows and mixed them with the broken mirror; then levitated all these shards and flung them at our heroes, sharp edges first. Dumbledore raised his wand, and the shards dissolved into harmless grains of sand. 

Grindelwald conjured clouds of smoke; then changed the smoke into storm-clouds as big as mountains, and set off bolts of lightning. Dumbledore set his wand into the ground, and the fearsome electricity ran down it, into the earth below. At that, the Dark sorcerer hurled another blast into the air, and rained shards of red-hot iron. Dumbledore raised his wand, and the shards fell aside and cooled into iron pikes, which formed a fence around Grindelwald and moved closer and closer together, about to crush him. Grindelwald seized them all again, dissolved them into molten metal, and fashioned it into fiery whips and burning lariats. Dumbledore threw them off as they came, and changed them into fiery dragons, gryphons, hippogriffs, winged horses, unicorns, lions, badgers, eagles, snakes, sphinxes, elephants, rats, and bulls, and sent them charging all at once. Grindelwald vanished from the spot and re-appeared elsewhere in the room, and threw green flames and poison darts and blasts of heat, sound, and light. Dumbledore spun around and held them all off with his wand; then conjured another whip of fire and struck out at Grindelwald, who vanished again, re-appeared on his opponent's other side, and replied in kind.

Now, the two wizards stood opposite, and hurled magical weapons: the Thunderbolt, the Diamond Net, the Flame Inextinguishable, the Hammer of the Mind, the Diamond Lariat, the cosmic nets, the snake-arrows, the eagle-arrows, and various things called the Rager, Stupefier, Hypnotiser, Yawner, Intoxicator, Humidifier, Weeper, Drainer, Ripper, Monster, Punisher, Wrestler, Baffler, Bolter, Drier, Drencher, Impeller, Staggerer, and Shockwave. Smokeless fires filled the room between them, and dragons and eagles danced in the flames. Bright explosions and blazing flares appeared on all sides, with clamours like the breaking of a thousand sound-barriers.

To be continued…


	2. The Power of Love meets the Love of Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the sidekicks take centre-stage…

Grindelwald and Dumbledore fought a dozen rounds more; then Grindelwald said: 'I'm getting tired and a little bored of this contest, Albus. Why don't we step aside a while, like gentlemen, and let our seconds have a turn?'.

Dumbledore answered: 'Very well, Gellert', and the two wizards put up their wands and stood aside. Newt and Tina took Dumbledore's place, while Queenie, Nagini, and the boy formerly known as Credence took Grindelwald's. Jacob, who had no magic of his own, remained in the wings.

Said Newt: 'You know, I don't really want to do this to you, Credence'.

The youth answered: 'My name is Aurelius! Aurelius Dumbledore! The brother Albus and his family abandoned!'.

Said Dumbledore: 'You were lost, Aurelius, not abandoned. If you wish to rejoin us, the family would welcome you. You and I have another brother, Aberforth, who would be, if not overjoyed, pleased, at least, to have you returned to the household'.

Said Aurelius: 'It's too late. Nobody ever cared for me, until Gellert and Nagini; and now they have, so I'll fight for them', and charged at Newt, who stopped him with an invisible wall, and cast Body-Binds, Leg-Lockers, Magic Cages, Triple Circles, Containment Orbs, trap spells, seals, cosmic nets, diamond lariats, rings of fire, and other spells of the same kind at him, one after another. Aurelius blocked some with his wand, disappeared from the path of others, or changed into the monstrous dark whirlwind of his Obscurial form, and swept them away. 

Nearby, Nagini took snake-form and sprang at Tina, who cast binding-enchantments, repelling-charms, impediment-jinxes, and spells to confuse, immobilize, misdirect, misguide, disorient, discombobulate, distract, derange, disarrange, and confound at her. In stepped Queenie, and said: 'I don't want to hurt you, Teenie'.

Tina answered: 'You don't have to'.

Queenie insisted: 'I might. You're trying to stop Gellert; trying to stop everything we've spent all our lives waiting for! Can't you see it?! I won't have to hide anymore! You won't need to run around throwing Obliviations and Concealments and inventing silly stories for non-magicals! They won't hunt us in the streets this time! And Jacob and I can get married, and no-one will stop us!'.

Said Jacob: 'Grindelwald will. D'you think he'll let us get married, Queenie? He's got no use for us, after he's got what he wants!'.

Said Queenie: 'Be quiet, Jacob! You don't understand! This war;–– both wizarding and not;–– came about because people don't let each other be themselves; don't let each other do as they please and live as they like! All wars start like that, and all witch-hunts, too! Grindelwald's trying to stop all that!'.

Jacob answered: 'It'll never stop. War's part of being human, Queenie! As long as people are what we are, with magic or without, they're gonna disagree; an' if they disagree too much, they'll fight. All we c'n do is live the best we can, an' make ourselves an' those we love as peaceful as we can; not agree on ev'ything, maybe, but make sure we disagree withou' fightin'. War's not like a spill on the rug, which you c'n wave y'r wand an' make 't disappear, 'r I c'n wash away with a dip in the washtub. It's a weed, an' we jus' have t' pull it up wh'n it grows. But look at Grindelwald, Queenie! He's plantin' that weed wh'rever he goes!'.

Said Queenie: 'Shut up! You talk like a fool! You never really loved me! Just lost your head over a pretty face; and now you want it back'.

Jacob answered: 'Yes I did. I still do; maybe more th'n ever. Not just a pretty face; I love what you can do. I'm a better man, wh'n I'm with you, because you show me all my mistakes, an' wha' I have t' do better th'n I am; an' I love what I become when 'm with you, an' I love you f'r it. I don' normally soun' like this; bu' 've had a lotta time t' think abou' it, so here I am sayin' it. Read my mind, Queenie, an' y'll know i's true!'.

Queenie hesitated, and Jacob added: 'You cain', a'ymore, c'n you? Have y' looked int' anyone's mind, since y' star'd lis'nin' t' Grindelwald? H've y' seen a'ythin' th're? H've you seen a'ythin', 'r even looked f'r it, since y' took up wit' 'm, 'cep' wha' he shows you?'.

Queenie hesitated again; then, slowly, gingerly, looked into Jacob's mind, and Tina's, and saw his meanings. Said she: 'It doesn't matter; you're only showing me this to make me do what you want'.

Said Tina: 'Not just because we want it, Queenie! Because it's right for you, and we know it!'.

Jacob added: 'An' someone has to say it, so why not us?'.

Said Queenie: 'You're not fooling me; you're only letting me see what you want me to see!'.

Jacob answered: 'We want you t' see it, 'cause we think i's true. An' if we c'n hide part o' wha' w're thinkin', an' show y' th' res', why cain' Grindelwald, who's be'er at it than us? It don't take magic t' do that; 'r if it does, maybe ever'one's got a li'l magic, an' you an' them just 've more th'n most. Either way, we jus' wan' you t' be happy all y'r life, 'r as much of it as we c'n; an' we cain' do that, if we have t' fight on opposite sides'.

At last, Queenie lowered her wand. Aurelius, still duelling Newt, shouted: 'No, Queenie! Don't listen to them!', and swelled into his Obscurial form, larger and more terrible than ever. Towering to the ceiling of the hall, he fell upon Tina, Jacob, and Queenie like a breaking wave. Newt and the two witches turned their wands on him; and in the clash of magics, the Obscurial burst into a thousand pieces. Right away, Newt swept up the pieces and locked them away in a Containment Orb. Said he: 'I've enclosed his power. If he survives again, he won't be an Obscurial any more; just an ordinary wizard'. 

At that, Grindelwald turned on Newt, but found his Deterioration Spell blocked by Dumbledore's Shield Charm. Said Dumbledore: 'I take this to mean, Gellert, you wish to resume our own part in this contest'.

Said Grindelwald: 'You're right again, Albus old boy!', and they fought. Explosions flashed from their wands once more. 


	3. The Final Blast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the duel concludes…

The two wizards fought on. Grindelwald froze his own breath when he exhaled, and threw dry ice; Dumbledore blocked it with a ring of magical fire. Grindelwald cast a Freezing Charm on Dumbledore himself, who threw it off with a counter-charm. Grindelwald conjured vile vines which wrapped themselves around Dumbledore, and threatened to pierce him with their poison-smeared thorns; Dumbledore vanished from their path, re-appeared elsewhere in the room, and turned all the vines to stone. Grindelwald waved his wand and shattered the stone, and threw all the pieces at Dumbledore, who changed them into clouds of dust. Grindelwald swept up the dust and covered Dumbledore in it; but Dumbledore vanished again from its midst, and struck Grindelwald with a sharp blast that knocked him off his feet. Hurled across the room by Dumbledore's spell, Grindelwald stood, and counter-attacked with a moving wall of flame, a storm of ice, bolts of lightning, gusts of wind, and various curses: disintegrations, disembowellings, instant flaying, bone removal, blood loss, tooth decay, joint reversal, toenail growth, blinding, deafening, and disorienting. Dumbledore blocked each of these in turn; Grindelwald sent more, and Dumbledore disappeared from their path and re-appeared behind his opponent, and tried to disarm him with a Disarming Charm. Grindelwald spun around and stopped it; then conjured a dozen terrible faces, which snarled and snapped around Dumbledore. The latter swept them all up with his wand and shattered them into pieces.

In this fashion, they continued; and their spells became more and more complicated and terrible. Before long, each was throwing a string of combinations, each longer and more intricate than the one before, and blocking the other's moves with layer upon layer of counter-spells. Strange things appeared on all sides: flagstones grew and bloomed like flowers, gargoyles howled like wolves, tapestries and statues sprang to life and attacked one or the other combatant, until he cut it down; and the walls, floor, and ceilings bent and stretched and twisted and folded in many directions at once. Sunlight changed into glass knives, and the static in the air built up until it flashed into lightning. They conjured soaring towers in the air and hurled fires and explosions on each other from each tower's terrace; attacked each other with armies of tiny figurines; encased themselves in suits of invisible armour, and fought with giant weapons; set off waves in the earth; sent squadrons of spectral soldiers into battle; turned the room upside-down around each other; and tried to trap each other in blocks of glass, made from the sand in the floor, only to see the intended victim vanish from within and re-appear elsewhere, just as the glass took shape. Grindelwald rained down a foul-smelling slime; Dumbledore changed it into rich black soil, and conjured flowers to plant in it. 

They shook the ground under each other; summoned lightning and balls of fire. Grindelwald threw an impenetrable darkness around Dumbledore, who Disapparated, re-appeared outside it, conjured chains around Grindelwald's every limb, and sank those chains into the floor, until his enemy could not move. Grindelwald said: 'Is that the best you can do?!', and turned the chains into five-headed fire-breathing serpents, which sprang at Dumbledore with their fangs bared; but Dumbledore threw Containment Orbs around them all, and hurled them back at their maker, who made them disappear as they came, and fought back with a salvo of flaming spears and shields. Dumbledore cast up a powerful counter-spell, and the spears and shields stopped in the air and stood still. Dumbledore picked them from the air, and they vanished. Grindelwald fought back with razor-sharp winds, jets of water, flying boulders, and rings of fire; Dumbledore blocked these, and conjured a storm of hundreds of arrows: some needle-tipped, some broad-headed, some barbed, some crescent-shaped, some ablaze. Grindelwald conjured shields and stopped all these arrows; then they fought harder again, with waves of flame and moving walls of air, spears of stone, waves of earth, shards of ice, clouds of dust, miniature whirlwinds and sandstorms, streaks of lightning, fiery blades, shock-waves, grimacing masks, twistings in space, and spells still more powerful, until the force of their enchantments filled the room, and the sight of them was fearful to look at. 

At last, in one tremendous clash, the two masters of magic hurled all their power at one another in the most intricate and many-layered arrangements yet. When the explosion faded, Grindelwald lay senseless; Aurelius lay dead; and Dumbledore's wand lay shattered between them. 

At that terrible sight, Nagini left off menacing the others, reverted to her human form, and wept upon Aurelius' broken chest. Said she: 'You killed him! You did this! It's all your fault! No-one ever cared for him but me, and you couldn't let him live!'.

Tina corrected her: 'No, Nagini. We were trying to save him'.

Nagini answered: 'Tried and failed! What do you care?! It's all "For the Greater Good", isn't it? You're just like Grindelwald, all of you! It doesn't matter to you whether Aurelius lived or died, as long as your "Greater Good" gets done! He could've lived, or he could've died, but you're just as happy either way, as long as you've got what you wanted! Shame on you; shame on you all!'.

Said Newt: 'We tried to save him; we couldn't; but we can still find you a place in the world, Nagini, to live in peace, if you'll come with us'.

Nagini answered: 'Never!', changed into a snake again, and struck at them. Newt, Tina, and Queenie blocked her with Shield Charms, and she hissed and spat and struck at those instead; then gave up, turned around, and slithered away, never to be seen by them again. 

Said Jacob: 'Ah won'er wha' she w's say'n'?'.

Newt answered: 'Some of it wouldn't translate very well; and it was mostly insults anyway. No, Queenie; I'm not a natural Parselmouth, but I've picked up a little, over the years'.

Said Queenie: 'I understood her too; my powers don't work only on human minds'.

Dumbledore still stood over Grindelwald, and Jacob said to him: 'Y'r wan's brok'n, P'fessor; c'n y' use his?'.

Dumbledore answered: 'I think I can', and held out a hand. Grindelwald's wand leapt into it, and both wand and wizard shone from within. Said he: 'Yes, I think I can use it now. I'll never be as powerful with it as he, of course, but it should serve well enough for ordinary purposes'. 

Said Newt: 'Well, sir, after today, you'll be the world's best demonstrator of Defence against the Dark Arts, and your own best example'.

Dumbledore answered: 'No; I think I'll teach Transfiguration from now on. There are other ways to defend against the Dark Arts than merely fighting. You and your friends have proven it over these last few years'. 

Said Jacob: 'Speaking of which, wha're you gonna do abou' him?', and indicated the unconscious Grindelwald. 

Dumbledore answered: 'I'm going to lock him up here, in the dungeons of his own fortress, under enchantments not even he can break from within; there to reflect on his life of crime, and grow to regret it, if he can'.

With that, Dumbledore levitated Grindelwald into the dungeon, with the others close behind. Grindelwald woke as they set him down, and said: 'What happened? Where are we now?'.

Dumbledore answered: 'You're in your own dungeon, Gellert: surrounded by enchantments not even you can overcome, here to reflect on your many heinous crimes, and show some remorse for them, in time'. 

Said Grindelwald: 'So, I lost. Don't have the guts to kill me, Albus?'.

Dumbledore answered: 'To kill you would be easy, and spare you a good deal of pain and suffering. At the moment, I am disinclined to be so merciful', and shut the door upon him.

Said Jacob, as the little band made their way back out: 'Sir, now y've won, wha' 'bou' Queenie an' me?'.

Dumbledore answered: 'I imagine your example, Jacob, should supply some grounds for the repeal of Rappaport's Law. It may be too soon to break the Statute of Secrecy; but as we have seen, a total separation of the magical from the nonmagical world is neither possible, nor desirable. I shall speak to the British and European Ministries of Magic, and MACUSA in the Americas, on your behalf'.

Said Jacob: 'Thank you, sir. But there's no real Statute of Secrecy in Africa, 'r the Caribbe'n, 'r India, is there? Ah mean, th' wizards there live righ' ou' in th' open, an' practice t' help th' no-majes th're; even teach 'm some simple magic words! We've b'n th're; we've seen it'.

Said Newt: 'Well, that's true, Jacob; but you've also seen, they don't show their full powers, even there, and what little magic they teach, is just to draw out people with the gift and see which ones in the audience have magic. Those get recruited and taught properly, while the rest go home thinking they've learnt something. But the Statute of Secrecy does hold in Europe and the Americas, and that's where we'll have to live, all of us'.

Said Dumbledore: 'I expect we'll have relatively little trouble there, all the same. Come; let's go!', and away they went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some may question, When and how Newt & Co. visited Africa, the Caribbean, and India. But there is plenty of time to do so. Newt was after all a field-zoologist and collector of strange creatures from all over the world, and Jacob and Tina were his sidekicks. Meanwhile, the adventures which first united them were in the years 1926-1928, while the defeat of Grindelwald was established (in the very first book of the series) in 1945: the very year which saw the end of the Second World War; which (as many fans remarked), suggests Grindelwald had a hand in starting that war, and his defeat a part in ending it. Thus, Newt & Co. might have travelled the world in search of creatures, all through the war-years, until the events of this story, 20 years later.


End file.
